Folding chair with flaring back



P 1962 R. G. GELLER 3,030,141

FOLDING CHAIR WITH FLARING BACK Filed Aug. 26, 1959 1N VENTOR.

r TORNEXS United States Patent 3,030,141 FOLDING CHAIR WITH FLARING BACKRoscoe G. Geller, Owego, N.Y., assignor to Stalnnore Co. Inc., Owego,N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Aug. 26, 1959, Ser. No. 836,250 3Claims. (Cl. 297--60) This invention relates to folding chairs.

In the construction of high-class folding chairs, an effort is made tohave the furniture look as much as possible like permanent furniture.For this reason, the linkages which permit the folding are placed highon the legs and in position to be largely obscured by the seat and otherparts of the chair. One of the most conspicuous differences betweenfolding chairs and permanent furniture has been that folding chairs havethe confronting faces of the op-, posite back legs parallel to oneanother, whereas many.

different kinds of permanent furniture have the back legs flaringoutwardly, that is, the confronting faces of the back legs are at anacute angle to one another, the angle facing toward the rear of thechair.

It is an object of this invention to provide a folding chair which hasoutwardly-flaring back legs.

It is another object of the invention to provide such a chair withadapters which permit a chair to operate with folding mechanism similarto that used on chairs which formerly required parallel confrontingfaces for the back legs. A more particular object is to provide verysimple and inexpensive adapters combined with folding mechanism of thecharacter disclosed in my Patent #2,044,473, issued June 16, 1936.

In the preferred construction, the same adapter construction is used forboth upper and lower connections of the back leg to the foldingmechanism, and offsets are provided in the linkages to permit morecompact folding.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear orbe pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like referencecharacters indicate corresponding parts in all the views:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view showing a chair made in accordance withthis invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side view, mostly in section, showing the foldingmechanism and the operation of this mechanism for the chair shown inFIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation showing the chair of FIG- URE 2 when fullyfolded;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary, enlarged view showing the positions of thelinks when the chair is in the folded position shown in FIGURE 3; and

FIGURES 5 and 6 are greatly enlarged sectional views taken on the lines5-5 and 66, respectively, of FIG- URE 2.

FIGURE 1 shows a chair 10 having a back 11 supported by rear legs 12 and14. The chair has a seat 16 and a front leg assembly 18 consisting offront legs 20 and a cross frame 22. The confronting inside faces of theback legs 12 and 14 diverge from one another toward the rear so that theplanes of these faces form an acute angle opening toward the rear. Theupper ends of the rear legs 12 and 14 are connected at the upper ends bythe back 11 and they are connected a short distance below the chair seat16 by a frame element 26.

FIGURE 2 shows the front leg assembly 18 connected to the seat 16 bypivots 28. There is no direct connection between the seat 16 and theback legs of the chair. A link 30 is connected with the seat 16 by apivot 32. It should be understood that the linkage shown in FIGURE 2 isthe same at both sides of the chair, but the description of one suchlink mechanism is sufficient for complete understanding of them both. Atits other end, the link 30 is connected to a pivot 34 on an adapter 36which is attached to the rear leg 12 by screws 38, as shown in FIG- URE5.

There is another link 40 connected to the front leg assembly 18 by apivot 42. This link 40 is connected to the link 30 by a pivot 44. Thepivot 44 is located intermediate the ends of the link 30, as shown inFIG- URE 2 A link 50 connects with an intermediate portion of the link4%] ata pivot 52; and this link 50 is connected by a pivot 54 to anadapter 56 attached to the rear leg 12 by screws 38, as shown in FIGURE6.

When the rearward end of the seat 16 is lifted into the dotted-lineposition shown in FIGURE 2, the link mechanism causes the front legassembly 18 to move inwardly toward the rear legs 12 and 14; and furtherupward movement of the rearward end of the seat 16 causes the parts ofthe chair to'fold into the fiat positions shown in FIG- URE 3. The chairstands alone when folded.

From an inspection of FIGURE 2 it will be apparent that the chairillustrated has a simple and effective folding mechanism which can beconfined to the upper portions of the legs and close to the under sideof the seat. This folding linkage actually comprises two four-barlinkages. The first four-bar linkage consists of one link formed by theportion of the front leg assembly between the pivots 28 and 42. A secondlink 40 extends from the pivot 42 tothe pivot 44. A third link of thisfront four-bar linkage is the portion of the link 30 between the seatbetween the-pivot 32Qand-the pivot 28.

The second four-bar linkageconsists of the portion of links 40 betweenpivots'dd and 52, the link-50, the por tion of the rear" leg between thepivots E l-and 34, and the portion of the link 30 between the pivots 34and 44.

When the link mechanism folds, the links 50 on both sides of the chairare located outside of the links 30, and in order to have the linkmechanism fold into a compact assembly, each link 30 is provided with anoff-set 60, best shown in FIGURE 6, which permits the links 30 on bothsides of the chair to fold rearwardly and occupy positions alongside ofand inward from the links 50.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention both of the adapters 36and 56 are of the same construction and each one consists of a one-pieceplate having one portion at an obtuse angle to the other portion. Therearward portion of each of the adapters 36 and 56, that is, the portiontoward the right in FIGURES 5 and 6, extend parallel to the planes inwhich the various links move when the mechanism is folding andunfolding.

The forward portions of these adapters 56 and 36, that is, the portionstoward the left in FIGURES 5 and 6, contact with the faces of the legs12 and are securely fastened to the legs by the screws 38, there beingat least two screws 38 in each adapter 36 and 56 so as to hold theadapters in fixed relation to the leg 12. Each adapter 36 and 56 has acylindrical bearing portion 62 which extends into a socket in the legand this bearing portion 62 receives and supports the inner end of thepin or pivot 34 or 54 that connects the links 30 or 50, respectively, tothe adapter.

In the preferred construction, the pivots 34 and 54 are connected to thebearing portions or supports 62 by fitting into these bearing portionsor supports with a press fit; but other constructions can be used, suchas shoulder screws, and the constructions illustrated are merelyrepresentative of fastening means for pivotally connecting the links 30and 50 to the adapters 36 and 56, respectively.

The preferred construction has been illustrated and described, butchanges and modifications can be made, and

two back legs-on.opposite sides-of the chair and having inner faces.confronting one another across. the space between said back legs, afront leg assembly, a seat having a forward portion hinged to thefront.leg assembly and havingafree rearward portion that is raised andlowered to. fold. and unfold the chair, and a multi-ba'r linkageconnected to the front and'rear leg assemblies and to the seatintermediate its forward and rearward portions, the improvement-whichcomprises outwardly flaring back legs with their confronting facesdiverging from one another towardtlie rear of the chair and at an obtuseangle to a plane" extending fore-and-aft of the chair, the linkagesincluding anupper and a lower link on each side of the chair connectedwith the back leg on that side of the chair, two plates attached to eachleg on the surface of the leg that confronts the other leg and with eachplate at a different height on the leg from theother plate, the forwardportion of each plate being parallel to a portion of said surface of theleg and attached thereto, the directionof extent of the plate-changingintermediate its ends and the plate having a rearward portion divergingfrom the surface of the leg but locatedentirely behind the front edge.of said surface of the leg so as to be obscured from view when the legisviewed from in front of the chair, the rearward portion of the platebeing at an obtuse angle to. the forward portion substantially equal tosaid obtuse angle of flare of the back legs, each link that is connectedto a back leg of the chair having a straight forward portionsubstantially parallel to said plane, an intermediate portion that isolf-set at the forward portion of the plate in;adirection-toward-thesurface of the leg, anda rearwardlportionsubstantially parallel-to said plane and adjacentto therearward-portionofthe plate, apivot-support extending from the rearward portion of eachplate and into contact with the leg to which the plate is attached, apivot extending from the pivot support on the side away from the leg,all of the pivots being parallel to one another, a different link of thelinkage being connected to the rear legs by each of the pivots, andother links of said linkage connected with and operable in planesparallel to said fore-and-aftplane and connecting said upper and lowerlinks with the front legs.

2. The foldingchair described in claim 1, and in which the spacing ofthe plates on each leg is less than the length of the lower links, andthe offsets of the links that connect with the lower pivots aredifferent from those of the links that connect with the upper pivotswhereby part of the length ofthe lower links canlie alongside of part ofthe length of the upper links when the chair isfolded.

3. The folding chair described in claim 1, and in which each plate isattached to its leg by two screws extending through the forward portionof each plate and into the leg at right angles to the flaring surface towhich the plate is connected, whereby forward pull of the links on thepivots urges the forward portion of the plate in a forward direction butwith a component of force that tends to move the plate into firmercontact with the flaring surface of the leg and against which it is heldby said screws.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,942,752 Gedris Jan. 9, 1934 2,044,473 Geller June 16, 1936 2,440,831Pease May 4, 1948 2,612,939- Burdick' Oct. 7, 1952 2,650,014 HarrisonAug. 25, 1953 2,829,703- Knoedler Apr. 8, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 1 9,487Great'Britain 1899 206,150 Switzerland Oct. 16, 1939

